Gaoshan (高山族)

Geography and Language of Gaoshan (高山族)

Most Gaoshan people live along the east coast of Taiwan, in the mountainous areas and flat valleys. Around 1,500 live in Fujian province and in cities such as Shanghai, Wuhan and Beijing. Their language, like so many others of ethnic minority peoples, has no written script, and is related to Indonesian.

• Population: About 415,000
• Distribution:  Taiwan and Fujian
• Language: Gaoshan people speak 13 languages
• Religion: Polytheism

Traditions of Gaoshan (高山族)

Among the most popular export products are Oolong and other black teas, and sugar as well as many different types of fruit, also grow here.

The Gaoshan people are mostly farmers living in mixed communities with Han people, who work the land in similar ways. Hunting dominates the lives of those people in the mountains, while on the coast and islands, fishing is essential.

The Gaoshan family system is monogamous and patriarchal, though the ancient matriarchal practice is still retained in the Amei tribe, where the community is run and families are headed by women.

Transport across rugged areas of land is made easier by the use of bamboo and rattan arch or suspension bridges and cableways. This is essential in places where there are steep ravines.

Culture of Gaoshan (高山族)

Singing, dancing, fairy tales, ballads and hunting songs, carving and painting are all important aspects of everyday life for Gaoshan people. They are animists, meaning they believe in immortality and practise ancestor worship. The dead are buried without coffins.

History of Gaoshan (高山族)

The name ‘Gaoshan’ was only created after the victory over Japan in 1945, and there are several different theories as to the origins of this ethnic group. Some believe they are related to the Malays in the south, others that they are from the west, based on their ccustoms of tattooing their bodies and cropping their hair. It is more likely, however, that they originated with a branch of the Yue, who lived on the coastal mainland in the Stone Age. Over time, they mingled with other ethnic groups and became the Fan or Eastern Fan, now known as the Gaoshan. Close connections with mainland China have been maintained for thousands of years.

Animal husbandry was still in its embryonic stages in the third century AD, and by the early seventh century, farming and livestock breeding was growing. Early Gaoshan people had neither written language nor calendar, and they used knots to record events, worshipping gods of mountain and sea.

From the 17th century, Han people moved across to Taiwan and they worked closely with the Gaoshan to develop the island and fight off invaders. Japanese rulers and pirates alike were beaten back in the 16th and 17th centuries. The Dutch and Spanish also tried to invade during the Ming dynasty, but they also met with fierce local resistance. In 1642, the island came under Dutch rule, but this ended 38 years later. Economic growth and development was then improved, advanced farming methods were introduced and children were able to go to school.

Modern Times of Gaoshan (高山族)

The island was brought under Qing dynasty control in 1683, which lasted until 1895 with the signing of the Sino-Japanese treaty. Taiwan continued to be plundered by the British, Americans, Japanese and French and there were around one hundred uprisings between 1895 and 1915. Taiwan was returned to China in 1945.

Around 2,900 Gaoshan people live on the mainland.